If you’ve already heard a number of seminarians or priests’ vocation stories before, you would probably expect the story to go like this. God calls this young man to be a priest. This young man hears the voice of God but ignores it. God calls again and again and so the young man finally says yes to God in the freedom of his heart. Well, that’s not the case for me. Mine goes like this. God calls young boy. Young boy doesn’t know he’s being called so God drags him to seminary.

It was one random weekday night when my mother told me of her decision to send me to a seminary for high school. I was born and raised in the Philippines and high school seminaries were pretty common in the predominantly Catholic country. My friends and I already made plans of studying in this local school with an excellent science program when my mother unexpectedly broke the news to me. I was shocked. In spite of me telling her that I didn’t want to be a priest, she insisted that it was just for high school and once I graduated, I could study anything I wanted for college. She just wanted me to be protected from the usual “bad” influences that one could get in a normal high school. Although I tried my best to change her mind, my mom didn’t really give me any choice. Disappointed as I was, I obeyed. My only consolation was that my older cousin was already in seminary, a year ahead of me so at least I already knew someone there.

My life changed when I entered seminary. I changed. I wasn’t really a very prayerful boy. I went to mass every Sunday with my family. I occasionally prayed before meals and at bedtime and that was pretty much it. But after going to mass every morning, praying more than twenty times every day in seminary, I started developing a personal relationship with the Lord. Because of that personal relationship and also the inspiring witness of the holy priests in seminary, I started thinking about priesthood. In my last year of seminary my mom finally asked me what I wanted to study for college reminding me that I could study whatever I wanted. I told her that I wanted to be a priest and this time it was now my free decision.